Approximately six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer each year. Companion animals with cancer can be used by researchers as models for human cancer, to help develop new treatments for man and animal alike.
Comparative oncology isn’t a new idea. Dogs were used for testing bone marrow transplant techniques in the 1960s and 1970s. In the 1980s and 1990s, dogs were used to test limb-saving treatments for bone cancer. In 2003, the National Cancer Institute formally founded the Comparative Oncology Program, which aims to use pets to learn more about cancer — and to test and refine new therapies that can be used on human patients. 2005 saw the complete sequencing of the canine genome, a tool which will allow scientists to study the genetics involved in canine cancer.
Why use pets?
- Humans and pets often share the same environment, and are exposed to the same cancer-causing agents at the same time.
- Animals generally have a shorter lifespan than humans, allowing researchers to see long-term outcomes much sooner than they would with human patients.
- The biology of cancer in dogs and humans is similar. Although the frequency of various cancer types varies between the species, the mechanism of the disease is similar.
- Cancer in pets often develops spontaneously — just like it often does in humans.
- Cancer in an animal is much more complex than anything scientists could create in a lab situation.
- Pet cancer can become resistant to treatment — just like it can in humans.
- Pet cancer can return after treatment — again, like it can in humans.
- Pet cancer can spread to other areas of the body (metastasize), like it does in some humans.
- Scientists may have the opportunity to try new or experimental cancer treatments far earlier on pets than they do on human patients (experimental treatments are often a last resort). Since there are no set standards for cancer treatment in pets, the experimental options are available to pets with cancer much sooner.
Many owners who are dealing with a pet’s cancer are happy to join in the clinical trials. Not only does it give the pet a chance at survival, it has the potential to help other pets and humans with cancer.